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INDEPENDENCE  AND  PROGRESS. 


AN    ORATION 


DELIVERED    AT 


C  O  T  T ,    A  Tl  I  Z  O  1ST  A 


JUXiIT    4th, 


HON.   RICHARD    C.    McCORMICK, 


SECRETARY  OF   THE  TERRITORY. 


|rescott: 

OFFICE     OF     THE     ARIZONA     MINER 

1864. 


O 


INDEPENDENCE  AND  PROGRESS. 


AN   ORATION 


DELIVERED    AT 


P  R  K  H  C  O  T  T ,    A.  B  1  Z  O  N  ^ , 


JULY    4th,    1864, 


BY 


HON.    RICHARD    C     MoO  ORM  I  0  K, 


•SECRETARY   OF   TH£ 


^  r  e  s  c  o  1 1 ; 

OFFICE    OF    THE    ARIZONA     MINER 

1864. 


pen 


THE    FOURTH   OF  JULY  IN  PRESCOTT. 


FROM  THE  "ARIZONA  MINER,"  JUNE  22d,  1864. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Granite  Creek  and  vicinity,  held  May  30th,  to 
take  measures  for  the  disposition  of  lots  in  the  proposed  town  of  Prescott,  Mr. 
Charles  M.  Dorman  presented  the  following  resolutions,  which  were  unanimously 
approved,  viz : 

RESOLVED,  That  a  Mass  Meeting  be  held  at  Prescott,  on  Monday,  July  4th,  1864, 
at  noon,  to  celebrate  the  88th  anniversary  of  American  Independence,  and  pro- 
perly to  inaugurate  the  new  town,  a  fresh  evidence  of  American  progress  and 
prosperity. 

RESOLVED,  That  His  Excellency  Governor  Goodwin,  be  invited  to  preside  on 
the  occasion. 

RESOLVED,  That  the  Hon  Richard  C.  McCormick,  Secretary  of  the  Territory, 
be  invited  to  deliver  an  oration. 

RESOLVED,  That  John  L.  Forbes,  James  G.  Barney,  John  Howard,  Dr.  T.  P. 
Seeley,  and  Dr.  James  Garvin,  be  a  committee  to  make  all  necessary  arrange- 
ments for  the  meeting. 

Adjourned. 

-  ROBERT  W.  GROOM,  President. 
T.  A.  HAND,  Secretary. 


THE   FOURTH   OF  JULY  IN  PKESCOTT. 


FROM  THE  "  ARIZONA  MINER,"  JULY  6,  1864. 

The  first  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July  in  Prescott,  was  general  and  hearty. 
It  is  estimated  that  four  hundred  persons  were  in  town  during  the  day  and  even- 
ing. Lynx  Creek,  the  Lower  Hassayampa,  and  Weaver,  were  well  represented. 
The  public  proceedings,  according  to  the  following  programme,  passed  off  pleas- 
antly, and  to  the  apparent  satisfaction  of  all  : 

1776  1864 

FOURTH  OF  JULY   AND  INAUGURATION  CELEBRA- 
TION AT  PRESCOTT; 

VAN  C.  SMITH,  ESQ.,  Marshal  of  the  day. 


ORDER  OF  EXERCISES. 
The  flag  will  be  hoisted  at  daybreak. 

The  Fort  Whipple  garrison,  commanded  by  Major  E.  B.  WILLIS,  will  be  reviewed 

on  the  Plaza,  at  9£  o'clock,  A.  M.,  by  His  Excellency, 

GOVERNOR  GOODWIN. 

At  12  M.,  a  mass  meeting  of  the  citizens  will  be  held  on  the  Plaza.    Governor 
Goodwin  will  preside. 

Prayer  by  REV.  H.  W.  READ. 

Music,  by  L.  B.  JEWELL,  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner." 
The  Declaration  will  be  read  by  HON.  ALMON  GAGE,  U.  S.  Dis't  Attorney. 

MUSIC,  "  The  Grave  of  Washington." 
Oration,  by  the  HON.  RICHAUD  C.  McCORMICK,  Secretary  of  the  Territory. 

MUSIC,  "  The  Battle  Cry  of  Freedom." 
At  the  close  of  the  Exercises  a  National  Salute  will  be  fired. 
By  order  of  the  Committee. 

The  troops  made  an  excellent  appearance,  and  after  the  review,  a  majority  of 
them  returned  to  the  public  meeting.  At  noon  the  Governor,  Secretary  and 
others  appeared  upon  the  platform,  which  had  been  tastefully  erected  between 
two  stalwart  pines,  on  the  south-east  corner  of  the  plaza.  They  were  loudly 
cheered.  Mr.  McCormick's  address  dwelt  upon  the  duty  of  the  patriot  citizen  to 
the  Republic  at  this  important  hour  in  its  history,  and  upon  the  necessity  of 
carefully  laying  the  foundations  of  our  new  and  wealthy  Territory.  On  motion 
of  Hon.  Almon  Gage,  a  copy  was,  by  unanimous  vote,  requested  for  publication. 


ORATION, 


FELLOW  CITIZENS. 

We  are  assembled  for  a  double  purpose.  We  have  come 
from  the  placer  and  the  lode,  from  the  camp  and  the  cabin, 
from  the  exploration  and  the  chase,  to  commemmorate,  as  all 
Americans  should,  the  anniversary  of  our  National  Independ- 
ence ;  and  to  inaugurate  a  new  town  in  a  new  territory.  These 
ends  may  be  combined  with  harmony  and  propriety.  It  is 
from  the  national  independence,  achieved  for  us  by  the  heroes 
of  1776,  that  we  have  the  freedom  and  prosperity  of  1864. — 
The  form  of  government  which  they  secured  by  their  unparal- 
leled courage  and  endurance,  has  guaranteed  to  us  a  country 
unequalled  in  its  growth  and  success.  History  has  no  like  in- 
stance of  rapid  expansion  in  domain  and  power,  and  the  world 
is  amazed  that  in  the  hottest  hour  of  a  civil  war  of  gigantic 
proportions,  the  Republic  is  quietly  multiplying  states  and 
achieving  victories  of  peace, 

"  No  less  renown'd  than  war.'' 

In  fewer  than  an  hundred  years,  our  brilliant  banner  has  ac- 
cumulated stars  to  its  azure  field,  the  emblems  of  distinct  yet 
united  sovereignties,  until  to-day  nearly  two-score  are  cluster- 
ing there,  the  glory  of  every  loyal  heart. 

The  action  of  our  patriot  ancestors,  and  the  principles  for 
which  they  contended,  and  to  which  we  owe  the  magnificent 
development  of  the  nation,  should  be  our  especial  study  and 
pride.  The  American  Revolution  has  justly  been  styled,  not 


6 

only  one  of  the  most  important  but  one  of  the  most  interesting 
events  in  the  history  of  the  world.  "  The  movement  of  the 
Colonists  was  the  furthest  possible  from  a  sudden  outburst  of 
popular  passion.  It  had  nothing  of  the  temper,  or  purposes, 
or  unrestrained  impulses,  or  wild  excesses  of  a  mob.  It  pre- 
served throughout  the  war  the  order,  the  system,  the  conser- 
vatism of  loyalty  to  law  and  organized  civic  institutions.  It 
proposed,  it  is  true,  an  overthrow  of  government,  but  it  set  up 
another  and  better  government,  before  it  started  to  pull  down 
the  old.  It  proposed  armed  and  violent  resistance  to  English 
rule,  but  it  resisted  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  pub- 
lic law  regularly  enacted."* 

In  your  resolutions  proposing  with  the  celebration  of  the  day, 
the  proper  inauguration  of  this  new  town,  the  latter  is  pro- 
nounced "  a  fresh  evidence  of  American  progress  and  pros- 
perity." Such  it  is  in  the  broadest  and  happiest  sense.  The 
location,  the  surveying,  and  the  upbuilding  of  a  town  in  this 
newest  portion  of  Arizona,  this  remote  and  hitherto  unknown 
region,  where  the  white  man  ventured  less  than  a  twelve  month 
since,  and  where  even  now  the  howl  of  the  wolf  and  the  mi- 
micking Apache  are  heard  by  night,  is  an  indication  of  enter- 
prise which  on  the  part  of  any  other  people,  or  under  any  other 
government,  would  be  accounted  remarkable. 

But  to  the  American,  the  American  of  the  far  west,  it  is  but 
a  natural  advance,  a  proper  progression.  Webster,  addressing 
a  mass  of  citizens  at  Bunker  Hill,  found  that  they  were  press, 
ing  too  hard  upon  the  platform,  when  he  requested  them  to 
fall  back.  "  We  cannot,"  shouted  a  voice  from  the  crowd, 
"  You  can,"  responded  the  earnest  orator,  "  on  Bunker  Hill  noth- 
ing is  impossible."  The  American  will,  restless  and  resolute, 
hath  declared  that  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  upon  the  Pacific 
coast  nothing  is  impossible.  In  less  than  a  decade  of  hurried 
years,  countless  acres,  before  untrodden  by  the  whites,  have 
been  wrought  into  stalwart  and  busy  states.  Nebraska,  Colo- 

*J.  G.  Baldwin. 


rado  and  Nevada,  our  elder  sisters,  lately  granted  admission  to 
the  federal  circle,  were  less  than  ten  years  since,  the  undis- 
turbed home  of  the  savage  and  his  game.  He  who  had  trav- 
ersed their  rivers  and  mountains  was  accounted  a  venturesome 
explorer,  and  one  who  had  penetrated  beyond  the  bounds  of 
civilization. 

Arizona,  youngest  of  the  Territories,  organized  under  mani- 
fold disadvantages,  and  depreciated  by  many,  is  to  be  the 
theatre  of  marked  and  surprising  progress.  The  red-man  dis- 
posed to  accept  civilisation  within  her  borders,  as  an  inevitable 
consequence  of  the  age,  will  be  spared  to  witness  its  miracu- 
lous march,  but  where  determined,  in  his  blindness,  to  oppose 
it  by  his  rude  force,  he  will  be  swept  away  as  a  straw;  A  few 
short  years  of  perilous  life  will  end  his  existence,  even  here  in 
his  final  fastnesses.  The  active  steps"  of  the  civil  and  military 
authorities,  and  of  the  indomitable  hunters  for  gold,  will  not 
longer  admit  of  his  hostile  attitude.  He  must  yield  to  the  pale 
face  and  his  laws  or  be  extirpated.  The  present  formidable 
military  campaign  against  the  Apache,  skillfully  planned  by 
General  Carleton,  and  intrusted  to  intrepid  officers,  is  an  en- 
couraging evidence  of  the  determination  of  the  government  to 
open  and  keep  open  this  marvellously  rich  country.  Whatever 
our  estimate  of  the  course  of  the  present  administration  in  other 
matters,  it  deserves  our  grateful  acknowledgments  for  its  re- 
cognition, its  organization,  and  its  protection  of  a  valuable  terri- 
tory which  previous  administrations  had  refused  to  aid,  even  in 
more  prosperous  times.  And  in  this  connection  it  must  be  ap- 
parent to  all  that  it  is  to  our  interest,  no  less  than  our  duty, 
come  from  where  we  may  and  whatever  our  prejudices  of  edu- 
cation or  association,  to  firmly  uphold,  not  as  politicians  but  as 
patriots,  the  central  government.  Our  present  strength  is  in 
its  fostering  hand,  our  future  glory  depends  upon  our  connec- 
tion with  it.  Now  more  than  ever  before  may  we  realize  the 
force  and  wisdom  of  the  prediction  of  Washington  :  "  It  is  only 
in  our  united  character,  as  an  empire,  that  our  independence 
is  acknowledged,  that  our  power  can  be  regarded,  or  our  credit 
supported,  among  foreign  nations." 


8 

An  apt  and  forcible  illustration  of  the  sagacity  of  this  warn- 
ing comes  to  us  at  this  time.  No  one  that  discerns  the  motives 
by  which  the  European  nations  are  commonly  actuated,  can 
doubt,  for  a  moment,  that  if  the  United  States  were  at  peace, 
and  in  the  full  possession  of  all  its  powers  and  able  to  exert 
them  at  will,  that  the  nations  which  have  interfered  in  Mexico 
would  have  withheld  their  hands.  But  taking  advantage  of  our 
situation,  like  burglars  who  assail  an  undefended  house  when 
the  neighbors  are  absent  or  the  police  off  their  guard,  they 
pounce  upon  distracted  and  enfeebled  Mexico  with  impunity. 
The  London  Times,  in  that  high  style  which  always  covers  its 
truculence  and  falsehood,  announces  that  "  the  country  and 
capital  of  an  American  State  have  been  transformed  from  a  re- 
public to  a  monarchy,"  that  "  a  prince  from  one  of  the  reigning 
houses  of  Europe  has  been  introduced,"  and  so  on,  because 
Mexico  was  a  miserable  shipwreck  to  be  appropriated  by  the 
first  comer.  But  the  Paris  ConstUutionnel  does  not  scruple  to 
divulge  the  real  object,  which  is  nothing  less  than  to  put  an 
end  to  the  colossal  strides  of  the  grand  republic  of  the  North. 
"  Half  the  territory,"  it  exclaims,  "  was  the  sure  and  speedy  con- 
quest of  the  United  States." 

Temporarily,  because  of  our  unfortunate  domestic  troubles, 
we  must  submit  to  the  humiliation,  but  the  late  news  from  the 
seat  of  war  indicates  that  our  grand  armies  will  soon  be  out  of 
employment.  Who  in  Arizona  will  not  rejoice  to  have  their 
bayonets  turned  towards  the  speedy  expulsion  of  the  hirelings 
of  Napoleon  from  the  soil  of  our  sister  republic,  and  who  but 
that  keenly  regrets  that  forgetting  the  warning  of  Washington, 
we  have  at  any  time  been  unable  to  give  them  that  direction. 
We  want  no  monarchy  in  Mexico,  and  if  her  states  are  to  be 
sundered,  a  first  choice  should  be  ours  for  reasons  too  numer- 
ous to  enumerate,  but  obvious  to  every  American,  and  ample 
for  our  justification. 

Fellow  citizens.  Let  us  see  to  it  that  our  Territory  contributes 
at  all  times,  as  best  she  may,  to  the  unity  and  prosperity  of  the 


government  whose  foundations  were  laid  by  Washington  and 
his  unselfish  co-workers.  Undreamt  of  by  him,  (when  urging 
attention  to  agriculture  and  commerce,  he  exclaimed  "  within 
our  territories  there  are  no  mines  either  of  gold  or  silver,")  we 
have  the  precious  metals  in  unbounded  profusion.  By  their 
unearthing  we  may  keep  the  national  treasury  from  depletion, 
nay  more,  we  may  dispel  the  national  debt  as  a  cob-web,  and 
in  so  doing  but  add  to  our  own  prosperity.  We  may  afford 
the  Republic  a  support  even  more  valuable.  By  an  elevated 
and  unflinching  patriotism,  by  an  exalted  integrity,  by  a  cordial 
encouragement  of  the  institutions  of  education,  of  law,  and  of 
religion,  we  may  here  erect  a  state  whose  influence  for  good 
shall  be  wide  and  enduring. 

The  expectation  of  success  without  toil,  is  perhaps  the  chief 
cause  of  the  pioneers  too  frequent  lapse  into  vicious  and 
unprofitable  ways.  "  Idleness  is  the  nurse  of  sin."  Labor  is 
essential  to  success  even  in  the  best  mineral  regions.  Were 
men  willing  to  work  here  as  at  their  former  homes,  they  would 
not  only,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  meet  a  good  reward,  but  also 
be  contented  and  happy. 

Bancroft  LitSrary 

A  disposition  on  the  part  of  many,  who  cannot  be  called  idlers, 
to  wander  about,  forgetting  the  old  adage  that  "  a  rolling  stone 
gathers  no  moss  "  is  a  fruitful  source  of  injury  to  a  mineral 
district.  Striking  a  rich  placer  or  finding  a  promising  lode 
these  men  are  not  content,  but  must  look  further.  We  have 
those  here  who  beginning  at  Pike's  Peak  have  abandoned  excel- 
lent interests  there,  and  in  Nevada  and  California  have  literally 
run  away  from  fortune,  as  they  are  likely  to  do  here.  Mining 
is  at  best  an  irksome  pursuit,  but  where  systematically  and 
faithfully  pursued  it  is  almost  certain  to  yield  a  handsome 
remuneration. 

Again,  let  us  remember  that  though  in  the  wildest  of  wild 
countries,  aloof  from  the  restraints  of  society,  and  the  influences 
of  refinement,  we  have  nothing  to  gain  by  leading  wild  and 


10 

undisciplined  lives.  Although  the  smile  of  woman  may  not 
cheer  our  daily  toil  and  sweeten  our  mountain  homes,  we  have 
in  the  dainty  works  of  nature  much  to  soften  and  profitably  to 
engage  the  mind. 

"  If  thou  art  worn  and  hard  beset 
With  sorrows  that  thou  wouldst  forget, 
If  thou  wouldst  read  a  lesson  that  will  keep 
Thy  heart  from  fainting  and  thy  soul  from  sleep. 
Go  to  the  woods  and  hills  !    No  tears 
Dim  the  sweet  look  that  nature  wears." 

In  passing  through  the  miners'  cabins  I  have  been  pleased 
to  see  the  presence  of  beautiful  flowers  culled  and  arranged 
with  taste.  Our  hills  and  valleys  abound  in  them  and  nothing 
is  more  tenderly  suggestive  of  the  cultivated  homes  we  have 
left  behind,  or  of  the  gentle  hands  that,  in  memory,  are 
constantly  entwining  garlands  of  unfading  love  for  us. 

Incidentally  I  have  referred  to  the  immense  resources  of  our 
new  country.  They  deserve  especial  mention,  the  more  from 
the  fact  that  Arizona  has  too  frequently  been  called  a  desert. 
The  explorations  of  the  present  year  have  brought  to  light 
and  occupancy  districts  of  rare  value.  Adding  the  now 
known  resources  of  Northern  and  Central  Arizona  to  those 
long  developed  below  the  Gila,  and  upon  the  Colorado,  we  have 
with  many  barren  acres,  as  is  common  in  all  metallic  countries, 
an  extent  of  mineral,  agricultural,  pastoral  and  timbered  lands, 
equal  in  the  aggregate  to  the  state  of  New  York  Of  the 
mineral  deposits  it  is  enough  to  say  that  in  gold,  silver, 
copper  and  lead,  no  portion  of  the  world  is  believed  to  be 
so  rich.  If  a  tithe  of  the  lodes  lately  found  yield  as  they 
promise,  to  say  nothing  of  the  old  and  confessedly  rich  mines, 
some  of  which  were  worked  two  centuries  since,  the  return 
will  be  beyond  calculation,  and  more  than  enough  to  confirm 
the  reports  of  the  early  Jesuit  explorers,  of  the  marvellous 
wealth  of  the  land  to  which  Cortes  came  for  gold,  but  where 
he  did  not  overlook  the  importance  cf  agriculture.  Nor  must 


this  branch  of  industry  now  be  neglected.  Without  well  tilled 
farms  and  gardens  and  their  sustaining  produce  the  best  mineral 
country  in  the  world  were  unsuited  to  permanent  residence  or 
success.  The  triumphs  of  the  plow  must  go  hand  in  hand  with 
those  of  the  pick  and  the  rocker,  the  shaft  and  the  mill.  Of  the 
agricultural  lands  of  Arizona  Bartlett  says  those  of  the  river 
Salinas,  "  will  alone  supply  food  for  a  great  state."  Irrigation  is 
not  necessary  in  this  region  if  the  rains  are  as  frequent  as  they 
have  been  during  the  present  year,  and  in  the  southern  districts 
where  it  is  required,  the  rivers  are  large  and  regular  in  their  flow. 
No  finer  wheat  or  corn  is  grown  than  that  produced  by  some  of 
our  Indian  tribes.  The  sun  never  shown  upon  a  better  grazing 
country  than  that  of  the  numerous  and  beautiful  valleys  and 
hill  sides  in  various  parts  of  the  Territory.  The  grasses  are 
unsurpassed  in  their  nutritious  qualities,  and  furnish  excellent 
pasturage  at  all  seasons.  The  great  pine  forests  of  this 
region,  and  well  timbered  districts  elsewhere,  furnish  an 
abundance  of  wood  for  building  and  other  purposes.  The 
scenery  and  climate  in  this  locality  beggar  description.  We 
may  travel  from  the  East  to  the  West,  and  where  shall  we 
enjoy  a  landscape  more  picturesque  and  grand  than  that  to-day 
surrounding  us,  or  where  at  mid-summer,  in  a  latitude  so  low, 
a  temperature  so  delightful,  so  eminently  conducive  to  the 
object  of  life  : 

"  For  life  is  not  to  live,  but  to  be  well.'' 

From  the  bay  of  Naples  I  have  admired  the  gorgeous  skies 
of  Italy.     I  have  loitered  upon  the  banks  of  the  Bosphorus 

"  In  the  glory  of  the  sunset, 
In  the  purple  mists  of  evening," 

but  nowhere  have  I  seen  more  magnificent  combinations  of  sun 
and  cloud  than  are  to  be  seen  from  this  new  and  charmingly 
located  town. 

I  have  tested  the  most  salubrious  climates  of  Europe  and 
Asia  but  I  have  not  found  the   atmosphere  so  replete  with 


12 

health  giving  properties  as  in  this  portion  of  Arizona.  As  you 
are  aware,  death  from  natural  causes  is  almost  unknown,  and 
those  who  come  here  with  disease  soon  throw  their  physic  to 
the  dogs.  Such  a  country  must  be  attractive,  and  a  popular 
resort.  Its  resources  make  it  important.  Its  chief  deficiency 
— a  want  of  running  water — is  not  sufficient  to  prevent  its  early 
and  extensive  settlement,  although  it  may  at  points  retard 
placer  mining. 

Moreover  it  is  an  historic  land,  and  one  of  absorbing- 
interest,  as  the  illustrious  author  whose  name  does  honor 
to  our  capital  town,  and  others  skilled  in  research,  have 
eloquently  proven.  On  every  side  are  the  memorials  of  a 
people,  whose  rise  and  utter  passing  away,  are  prolific  of 
suggestion  and  worthy  the  most  careful  contemplation-  When 
Hernando  Cortes,  and  his  little  band,  sought  the  great  Aztec 
monarch,  Montezuma,  and  found  him  in  the  height  of  his 
grandeur,  they  were  not  bold  enough,  with  all  their  presumption, 
to  look  for  the  early  decay  of  that  glory,  and  the  ultimate 
extinction  of  the  race  whose  attainments  were  their  wonder. 
They  did  not  realize  in  the  bewildering  glitter,  the  absence 
of  those  virtues  and  mental  qualities  which  alone  insure 
national  as  well  as  individual  life  :  those  elements  of  character 
which  have  given  the  Anglo-Saxon  his  long  and  controlling  pro 
minence.  The  mouldering  fragments  of  the  Aztec  empire,  and 
indeed  of  its  Spanish  succession,  bear  to  us  an  impressive  lesson. 
They  suggest  a  higher  and  nobler  end  than  the  accumulation  of 
gold  ;  they  protest  against  an  abandonment  to  pleasure  and 
sensuality.  They  indicate,  in  unmistakable  language,  the  folly 
of  founding  institutions  other  than  those  which  shall  improve 
and  strengthen  with  the  lapse  of  ages  ;  which  based  upon 
sound  principles,  correct  morals,  and  liberal  intelligence  shall 
rightly  appropriate  the  wealth  of  these  everlasting  hills. 

Fortunately,  by  the  act  under  which  the  Territory  was 
recognized  by  the  general  government,  the  institution  which 
has  been  the  bane  of  the  states,  is  allowed  no  footing  here. 


13 

absence  and  that  of  its  sister  system,  which  has  so  seriously 
retarded  the  profitable  working  of  the  mines  of  Mexico,  will 
give  us  the  great  advantage  of  free  labor  from  the  beginning, 
which,  with  unity  of  sentiment,  and  of  action,  attachment  to 
country  rather  than  to  party,  tenacity  of  will  and  integrity  of 
purpose,  must  greatly  contribute  to  our  success. 

Our  geographical  position,  though  at  present  from  a  lack  of 
roads,  mails,  and  facilities  for  travel,  apparently  isolated  and 
remote,  is  in  fact  central,  and  on  the  best  highways  from  the 
Rio  Grande  to  the  Pacific.  The  inevitable  continental  railroad 
can  follow  no  parallels  more  favorable  for  its  economical 
construction  and  successful  working  than  the  32d  or  35th.  The 
great  river,  which  forming  our  western  boundary  from  the 
Mojave  country,  sweeps  southward  to  the  Sea  of  Cortes,  must, 
when  rightly  navigated,  put  us  in  good  water  communication 
with  all  the  world. 

The  physical  difficulties  and  pecuniary  perils  that  have 
embarrassed  our  pioneers  are  slowly  yielding  to  energy,  enter- 
prise and  experience,  but  it  is  obvious  that  capital  is  requisite 
to  the  successful  working  of  most  of  our  mines,  and  every 
proper  effort  should  be  made  to  secure  it.  A  broad  and  liberal 
policy  with  those  who  make  investments  here  will  prove  the 
most  profitable  in  the  end.  Every  piece  of  machinery  that  is 
put  up  will  add  directly  and  measurably  to  the  value  of  our 
mining  property.  Individual  and  selfish  schemes  should  be 
ignored  in  a  general  endeavor  to  promote  the  public  good. 
"  In  union  there  is  strength."  The  axiom  is  no  less  applicable 
to  our  business  than  to  our  political  relations,  and  knowing  the 
value  of  our  mines  and  the  facilities  for  working  them,  we  may 
invite  co-operation  in  their  development  with  confidence  in  the 
results.  It  is  the  opinion  of  those  most  competent  to  judge 
that  there  is  no  mining  region  where  the  prospect  of  realizing 
large  returns  from  comparatively  small  investments,  is  so  good. 

But  while  we  extend  a  generous  hand  to  capital  let  us  also 
wakefully  guard  our  rights,  and  the  protection  of  our  leading 


14 


interest.  Some  of  the  propositions  regarding  mineral  lands, 
lately  made  in  Congress  and  elsewhere,  are  both  unwise  and 
unjust.  It  were  folly  for  the  government  to  think  of  working  the 
mines,  or  to  attempt  the  imposition  of  an  oppressive  tax  upon 
them.  In  a  pecuniary  as  well  as  a  political  view  the  result 
must  be  the  opposite  of  that  desired.  The  experiment  with 
the  Galena  Lead  mines  in  1835  is  upon  record  as  an  illustration 
of  the  fact.  Let  mining  property,  like  every  other  species  of 
property,  be  taxed  on  the  net  proceeds,  if  necessary  for  the 
common  good  ;  but  let  the  imposition  of  the  tax  be  made  in 
accordance  with  common  sense.  The  old  Spanish  mining 
ordinances — the  collective  wisdom  of  three  centuries — gave  to 
the  mining  interest  every  protection  that  could  be  desired  ; 
free  importation  of  machinery,  quicksilver,  all  the  aids  to 
developing  the  mines,  gave  undisputed  and  rigidly  protected 
tenure  to  the  discovery  and  purchase  of  mines,  and  demanded 
in  return  for  government  aid  a  fixed  royalty,  or  tax,  payable 
at  the  assay  offices  in  each  district,  established  for  that  purpose. 
The  Spanish  law  is  certainly  better  than  any  yet  proposed  in 
Congress,  but  saving  in  this  day  of  war  and  national  necessity 
I  should  doubt  the  wisdom  of  any  tax  upon  the  mines.  Rather 
let  them  be  worked  with  all  protection,  and  no  incumbrance, 
and  reap  the  national  revenue  from  the  actual  wealth  in 
property  which  they  add  to  the  country. 

A  recent  protest  to  Congress  from  California  *  against  taxing 
the  gross  products  of  the  mines  exhibits  the  wisdom  of  a 
liberal  policy  on  the  part  of  the  government : 

"  Mining  operations  are  from  the  beginning,  laborious,  tedious, 
costly,  and  extremely  precarious.  Of  this  the  countless  number 
of  abandoned  shafts  and  tunnels,  and  the  numerous  others 
wherein  the  unrewarded  labor  of  years  is  vigorously  continued, 
in  the  hope  of  ultimate  success,  afford  the  most  conclusive 
evidence.  Nothing  but  the  liberal  policy  heretofore  observed 
by  government,  respecting  the  working  of  mines,  could  stimulate 

•By  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  San  Francisco. 


15 

men  to  embark  in  such  perilous  enterprises.  To  that  liberal 
policy  may  be  justly  attributed  the  peopling  of  vast  territories 
belonging  to  the  national  domain,  the  organization  of  new 
states,  the  building  of  towns  and  cities,  the  aggrandizement  of 
commerce,  and  the  actual  production  of  metallic  currency 
sufficient  to  preserve  the  vitality  of  our  national  finances  during 
a  period  of  unprecedented  trials." 

I  have  spoken  of  the  encouragement  of  education.  Schools 
of  mining  are  projected  in  New  York  and  San  Francisco.  They 
are  much  needed  in  the  present  condition  of  the  country.  The 
work  of  discovering,  opening  up  and  operating  the  immense 
mineral  resoures  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Pacific 
slope  has  been,  and  is  almost  entirely,  in  the  hands  of 
unscientific  prospectors.  There  are  many  now  within  sound 
of  my  voice  who  have  keenly  felt  the  want  of  scientific  insight 
and  guidance,  but  it  could  not  be  had  except  to  a  very  limited 
extent.  The  establishment  of  the  schools  proposed,  and  which 
are  similar  to  those  maintained  by  nearly  every  government  of 
the  old  world,  should  be  followed  by  the  creation  of  a  similar 
institution  here,  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment.  "  No 
science,"  says  Watts,  "is  speedily  learned  by  the  noblest 
genius  without  tuition."  If  so  much  has  been  achieved  here, 
without  the  light  of  science,  how  much  more  may  we  expect 
when  we  can  command  its  varied  powers  of  investigation.  More- 
over, "  science  "  in  the  words  of  Brewster,  "  has  been,  and  ever 
must  be,  the  safeguard  of  religion."  Combined  they  will  give 
to  us  not  only  a  clear  and  profitable  conception  of  the  works  of 
the  Almighty  as  revealed  in  nature,  but  also  incline  us  to  a  lively 
and  constant  faith  in  the  divine  plan  for  the  redemption  of  the 
human  family  from  the  sins  entailed  by  our  first  parents. 


